If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and wondered how did I let the weight get to this point? How did I let my health become an afterthought? What can I do now to get myself out of this mess? Then you know where I am right now.

As I looked at my pudgy out-of-shape body in the mirror, I wondered how I had allowed my weight to creep so high. I was at the heaviest point in my 36-year-old life – with a body mass index qualifying me as obese. My older thinner clothes ended up in a tidy box – set aside for “someday” when I got around to losing weight.

I had rationalized stress eating with the demands of a blended family, career, and (like everyone else) my all-around busy life. Now here I was – heavy, out-of-shape, and unhappy about it.

So here’s what I’ve done to start my diet:

• Ease into better eating. Five weeks ago, I began gradually changing my eating habits. It was small steps at first – a declined extra helping, more water all the time, a switch to fruit for snacks, and the occasional walk around the block to clear my head. At business lunches with dessert, I still ate a little dessert and even rolls. Unlike my previous yo-yo diets, I didn’t feel deprived or like I was giving up anything. I lost 9 pounds in five weeks without making any major changes.
• Reflect on your eating habits and why you ate what you ate. I’m a sugar addict and have quite a sweet tooth. Bad habits and stress eating did it. There were days working in downtown Washington where I would eat a bagel with cheese for breakfast, a greasy lunch with fries, and have two large whole milk lattes with flavor shots – imagine all those extra calories (not to mention the expense)! And then I’d get home exhausted from an hour and a half commute to eat a big dinner.
• Start moving and get some exercise in a positive atmosphere. My fitness level was so bad, that just walking a mile and a half winded me. I was mortified to realize how bad I had let things slide. At a charity auction, I bought a cheap month-long membership for a lush women-only gym. I expected to see stick-thin Stepford Wives perched on the treadmills sneering down at me the first time I lumbered in - but instead found women of all sizes at all sorts of fitness levels. There was no judgment. Just encouragement.
• Take it to a new level. And then it got more serious than just how I felt about myself and the box of clothes I can’t wear. During my last visit, my ob/gyn told me that I need to lose weight before we go to the fertility clinic for in-vitro fertilization. She ran through a long litany of potential problems if I get pregnant carrying extra weight – like gestational diabetes, stillbirth, and complications that could endanger my health and our child.

The doctor’s words gave me a new surge of motivation and she put me on a high protein and low-carb diet. So now the game is on and the diet is moving up a notch. When my month at the fitness palace ends, I’ll switch to the freebie gym that’s part of our homeowner’s association benefits. Look out weight – you’re coming off!

Dawn Miller writes a column on life in blended families at thestepfamilylife.com. 
Visit Dawn's blog for a daily dose of life in the blender.
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